Knowledge System Dynamics Andean Native Potato Production

Background: Indigenous Knowledge Systems of rural Campesino communities in the Peruvian Andes are critical for ongoing maintenance and conservation of local food systems, supporting communities’ food and nutrition security while stewarding native potato genetic diversity. These knowledge systems face multi-level, compounding threats of erosion and remain misunderstood and misrepresented in research. To respond to and address these threats, these Indigenous Knowledge Systems must be understood not as static, but as dynamic processes of production and reproduction. Methods: Original research was conducted with two Campesino communities in the Peruvian highlands, Huancachi and Quilcas, both recognized for continued use of the ancestral system of ‘turno’ cultivation, a communal land management strategy and system of sectoral fallowing, and their stewardship of native potato biodiversity. Data was collected using mixed-method Participatory Action Research. This study uses systems thinking to examine, map and understand dimensions of local knowledge system in both communities and how they underpin Turno cultivation, examining the relationship between knowledge systems and native potato conservation.Results & Conclusion: Results from this study suggest the integral role that land, culture and worldview play in sustaining and reproducing Indigenous Knowledge for Turno cultivation, as well as the role of external actors in shaping relationships between systems elements. This study found that as access and ownership over land is threatened, the power and influence of external actors over these local knowledge systems is increased, which in turn shapes relationships and functions of the knowledge system.